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Hamas rejects Egyptian proposal for a long-term truce with Israel

Gaza’s governing body rejects a long-term truce proposal from Egypt in the middle of a temporary ceasefire. Talks between Hamas and Israel are set to resume on Sunday.

Palestinian youths wash their horse in the sea during the five-day ceasefire between Palestinian factions and Israel. Negotiations continue with aim of reaching a permanent truce deal. (Dan Kitwood / GETTY IMAGES)

By Calev Ben-DavidSaud Abu RamadanBloomberg

Sat., Aug. 16, 2014

JERUSALEM—Hamas has rejected an Egyptian proposal for a long-term Gaza truce with Israel, as both sides prepared to resume talks in Cairo in the middle of a temporary ceasefire set to expire at midnight on Aug. 18.

Egyptian newspaper al-Shorouk reported on an 11-point proposal that included the opening of border crossings, coordination with the West Bank-based Palestinian authority over the rebuilding of the Gaza Strip, the extension of the Gaza fishing zone and a Palestinian commitment to halt tunnel building into Israel.

“The Egyptian proposals for a permanent ceasefire agreement with Israel are rejected,” Hamas official Izzat al-Resheq said today in a post on his personal Facebook page. “What was presented to the Palestinian side, up until the last moment before we left Cairo, was not accepted and never will be.”

Hamas has demanded that Israel allow the opening of a seaport and airfield in Gaza. Israeli officials have said those are issues to be decided only in a final peace agreement with the Palestinians, and aren’t up for discussion at this time.

The temporary ceasefire is meant to give Israelis, Palestinians and their Egyptian meditators time to work out a more enduring accord resolving disputes that have fuelled three major conflicts since 2008.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told reporters in Ramallah today that negotiations will resume Sunday in Cairo. Abbas’s Fatah movement, which controls parts of the West Bank, formed a Palestinian unity government with rival faction Hamas in June.

Israel withdrew ground troops from Gaza on Aug. 5 following a four-week offensive that it said was designed to end years of rocket fire and destroy tunnels militants built to infiltrate Israel. It estimates armed men account for 750 to 1,000 of the Palestinian dead and accuses Hamas of deliberately putting civilians in harm’s way, in part by operating within built-up areas and in and around schools, hospitals and mosques.

Along with the U.S. and European Union, Israel considers Hamas a terrorist organization. But criticism from the U.S. State Department of Israeli conduct during the fighting was reported Aug. 14 in the Wall Street Journal.

Israel government spokesman Mark Regev declined to comment on the story, which cited unidentified American officials as saying they were “increasingly disturbed by what they saw as heavy-handed battlefield tactics that they believed risked a humanitarian catastrophe.”

In Washington, Marie Harf, a spokeswoman for the State Department, responded to questions about the newspaper report by saying the U.S. is taking “additional care” in handling arms shipments to Israel because of the Gaza conflict.

“We thought Israel could do more to prevent civilian casualties,” Harf said.

The Obama administration held up a transfer of Hellfire missiles that Israel requested and instituted a new policy that will require White House and State Department approval of all munitions requests Israel makes to the Pentagon, the Journal said.

Relations between U.S. President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are already worn by disputes over Iran and peacemaking with the Palestinians.

Israeli Finance Minister Yair Lapid called the frayed ties “a worrying trend and we cannot allow it to continue. Our relations with the United States are a strategic asset that must be maintained.”

The U.S. agreed to provide additional ammunition to Israel in response to a request from its Ministry of Defence, according to a Pentagon statement last month that didn’t provide details of the request. Israel asked for a range of munitions, including 120-millimetre mortar shells and 40-millimetre illumination rounds. Congress also approved $225 million in emergency spending for Israel’s Iron Dome missile-defence system.

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